Winnipeg Manitoba– April 24, 2014 – 21 students squared off in this year’s Regional 2014 “Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada (SBCC)”, each of them presenting their biotechnology research and life-changing discoveries. Projects ranged from bioengineering a kidney, how prostate cancer cells circulate in the body, global warming, how food can effect cancer and much more.

All of the students are deserving of recognition for their efforts, however 3 students have been named the regional winners.

First prize was awarded to Ryan Wang, a grade 12 student at St John’s Ravenscourt, who studied how a serious heart disease called “Cardiac Fibrosis”  might be controlled through biomolecular techniques involving  a compound that regulates the expression of a single gene this is cutting edge research.

Second prize went to Dareen El Sayed, a grade 12 student at Kelvin High School, who studied how the use of hulled hempseed as a nutritional supplement may be a simple inexpensive and effective way to control high Blood sugar in Type 2 Diabetes.

Third prize went to Michael Xu, a grade 12 student at St John’s Ravenscourt, who studied prostate cancer.  His cutting edge work involved isolating individual prostate cancer cels circulating in the blood and analyzing them to determine their risk to the patient. That is; is the cancer aggressive or will it remain indolent.  This could help determine the optimal treatment strategy and supplement the existing PSA tests.

The winner of this competition, Ryan Wang will enter the national competition held at the headquarters of the National Research Council in Ottawa, on May 22, 2014, followed by the SBCC National Awards Ceremony, co-presented with the Partners In Research National Awards, on May 23, 2014.

About the Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada (SBCC)

The Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada (SBCC) is a national, biotechnology research competition that encourages high school and CEGEP students to pursue future studies and careers in the exciting field of biotechnology. Coordinated by Partners In Research, the initiative is sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur Limited, Sanofi Canada, the Ontario Government (Ministry of Research & Innovation), York University, the National Research Council Canada/Conseil national de recherches Canada (NRC-CNRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada (CIHR-IRSC) and Genome Canada.

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Media Contacts:

Bob Brown
Email: brownrj@mymts.net
Phone: 204 235 1812 Cell 204 791 5356

Andrea Mancini
CASACOM
amancini@casacom.ca
Tel: 416-944-2145

Anne Ramsay
Partners In Research
aramsay@pirweb.org
Tel: 519-433-7866

For more information, please visit www.sanofibiogeneiuschallenge.ca, follow us on Facebook or Twitter at https://twitter.com/@SBCCDBSC hashtag: #SBCC2014